Sidewalk Paint

Sometimes an activity doesn't turn out anything like you thought it would. I got this great idea to make sidewalk paint and put it into squeeze bottles from Putti Prapancha. She is always doing the most wonderful things with her daughter. Well, our afternoon activity turned out a little different from hers.

Making the paint is very simple - just mix equal amounts of cornstartch and water, pour it into bottles, then add food coloring and shake until the color is well mixed. If you want a darker color, just add more food coloring. We used the containers we had on hand - 2 glue bottles, a lemon juice bottle, and a contact solution bottle.

Right away, Lou had a problem with the glue bottles. She couldn't get the paint to come out the way she would like so she unscrewed the lid and just dumped the entire contents out. Before I knew it, she had done the same with the second glue bottle and was moving on to the lemon juice bottle.

Maisy was busy the entire time with the contact solution bottle - which turned out to be the best container for us. But, after only about 5 minutes all the paint had been poured out onto the sidewalk.

I went and grabbed a bucket and filled it half-way up with water and found a couple of old paint brushes. The girls quickly went to work painting with the water over the chalk.

It started out with a smiley face...

and then quickly turned into a "clean-up" project as their imaginations kicked in...

Maisy and Lou started working together to get this mess cleaned up that their naughty baby had made. When I asked them where that naughty baby was they pointed to this:

Even better :) I love it when projects turn out differently than you hoped. (I have to love it because NOTHING ever goes as I hoped...) I like your idea of adding the bucket of water -- lots more fun. And lets them spend even more time cleaning it up!